MINNEAPOLIS (Aug. 28, 2020) – Xcel Energy is sending employee and contracting crews to areas hit hard by Hurricane Laura to help restore power to the 670,000 customers currently without electricity following the devastating storm.
About 250 Xcel Energy employees and contractors from Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, Texas and Wisconsin left for Louisiana this week. The company is sending line workers along with support and safety staff after receiving the call for mutual assistance. Crews are initially assigned to Entergy Louisiana and Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCo), an AEP company.
“We want to assist the people affected by Hurricane Laura and are honored to be part of this restoration effort,” said Larry Crosby, senior vice president, distribution operations-Xcel Energy. “This is a massive undertaking with extensive damage, but our crews are ready to bring power back on safely – it’s what we would do for our own customers and we want to deliver that same quality of service to the people of Louisiana.”
Xcel Energy crews are expected to begin work this weekend and while their exact locations are still to be determined, power restoration efforts are expected to last at least a couple of weeks.
Xcel Energy is part of the Edison Electric Institute’s Mutual Assistance program. Following major storms that bring significant outages, electric companies use this program—a voluntary partnership of electric companies from across the country—to help speed restoration. For more about mutual assistance visit http://www.eei.org/issuesandpolicy/electricreliability/mutualassistance/Pages/default.aspx
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About Xcel Energy
Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) provides the energy that powers millions of homes and businesses across eight Western and Midwestern states. Headquartered in Minneapolis, the company is an industry leader in responsibly reducing carbon emissions and producing and delivering clean energy solutions from a variety of renewable sources at competitive prices. For more information, visit xcelenergy.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
About Edison Electric Institute
EEI is the association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. Our members provide electricity for more than 220 million Americans, and operate in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. As a whole, the electric power industry supports more than 7 million jobs in communities across the United States. In addition to our U.S. members, EEI has more than 65 international electric companies, with operations in more than 90 countries, as International Members, and hundreds of industry suppliers and related organizations as Associate Members.
